Chronicle file photoThe S.S. Milwaukee Clipper at its berth in Lakeside. The S.S. Milwaukee Clipper Preservation Society is attempting to move the ship downtown to the Muskegon Mart Dock.

The anchor has been raised and the main gangplanks removed, but the group trying to move the S.S. Milwaukee Clipper to the downtown Muskegon Mart Dock won't be singing "Anchor's Aweigh" any time soon.

With winter here and most tugboats tucked away, officials with the S.S. Milwaukee Clipper Preservation Inc. acknowledge the ship won't be moving to a new site before spring.

Ray Hilt

Ray Hilt, president of the preservation group, had been hoping to move the ship from its present berth in Lakeside to West Michigan Dock & Market Corp. before the end of the year.

"The old girl's ready to move," Hilt said. "Things simply took longer than we had hoped."

Hilt said the proposed move from the foot of McCracken Street to the downtown was slowed by federal and state permits and site plan approval by the city.

Before the ship can be moved, the Mart Dock site must be approved by the state Department of Environmental Quality and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. After those permits are obtained, the group still needs approval by the U.S. Coast Guard to tow the ship downtown.

In addition, the city has to approve the site plan. Officials said that approval could come as early as Jan. 10, when the plan is scheduled for review by the city's planning commission. Hilt said all the required state and federal paperwork has been submitted.

"Things are moving along," he said. "If we can get all the paperwork done and get moving on the site plan over the winter, we could start work during the winter and move to a site that is well along."

In October, Clipper representatives announced they had finalized plans to move the Clipper to the Mart Dock, where it would be berthed behind another historic ship, LST-393. The site is where the Clipper was based when it offered Muskegon-to-Milwaukee service before being retired in 1970.

Ever since the ship was towed into Muskegon on Dec. 2, 1997, it has been "temporarily" berthed at the former Grand Trunk Railroad docks, now owned by Andrie Inc. Hilt said that through the years, a number of sites for the ship have been considered, including an aborted effort to berth the ship at Hartshorn Marina.

Hilt said the Mart Dock site does not require major dredging or any modifications to the seawall. The Mart Dock site most likely will require eventual construction of a multistory access tower off the port side of the ship to provide emergency exits and elevator service. In addition, the site does not have a nearby supply of water or sewer.

City Zoning Administrator Lonna Anguilm said the planning commission will consider two issues: a special use variance and the site plan. She said the Mart Dock is zoned waterfront marine, which does not allow for museums.

To allow LST-393 and the Clipper to be in compliance, the waterfront marine zoning must be revised to allow for special use museums. Once that revision is made, Clipper officials can apply for a special use variance.

She said zoning for the Mart Dock will not change whether the Clipper is berthed there or not.

Hilt said his group is anxious to move the ship downtown, where it will be more visible and accessible to the general public. He said the move will finally give the Clipper an address, a long-standing requirement for the preservation group to seek restoration grants.

"I think we're progressing and moving along as well as can be expected," Hilt said of the proposed move. "There are a lot of different entities that have to be satisfied."

The Milwaukee Clipper's roots trace back to the turn of the 20th century and the Erie & Western Transportation Corp., a steamship company owned and operated by the Pennsylvania Railroad. It launched the Clipper, originally the steamship Juniata, in December 1904.

The Juniata was launched eight years before the Titanic, and began regular service in May 1905. The ship sailed as the Juniata for 31 years, mostly between Buffalo, N.Y., and Duluth, Minn., before it was mothballed in 1937 because of its fire-prone wooden superstructure.

In 1940, the Muskegon-based Wisconsin & Michigan Steamship Co. purchased the Juniata and converted it to the Milwaukee Clipper. The Clipper shuttled passengers and cargo from Muskegon to Milwaukee before it was retired in 1970.

The Clipper remained berthed in Muskegon for eight years before it was sold and towed to Chicago's Navy Pier as a floating attraction. In 1990, the ship was purchased by the Hammond, Ind., Port Authority, which attempted to make it into a centerpiece attraction for its large Lake Michigan marina.

The Clipper was towed to Muskegon in late 1997 after being purchased by a nonprofit group now known as the S.S. Milwaukee Clipper Preservation Inc.

The ship has been listed on the National Register of Historic Sites since 1983 and was designated a National Historic Landmark in 1989.